Credit: Matt Stone

Their league-leading defensive rating took a hit Wednesday night, but sometimes the Celtics simply have to trust the flow of their offense.

The Celtics beat Denver, 124-118, shooting at an almost absurd 59.5 percent clip that featured a 33-point, 12-for-19 performance by Kyrie Irving and another 26 on 9-for-12 shooting by Jaylen Brown, free of his protective goggles.

Neither team had its starting center. Al Horford, the Celtics’ minutes leader, was given a night of rest, and the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was out with an ankle sprain.

Shane Larkin, again called on to fill in some injury minutes — this time with Horford and Marcus Morris (knee) absent) — came off the bench with 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting.

The Nuggets made a late threat, with back-to-back 3-pointers by Jamal Murray cutting the C’s lead to 122-118, before Irving finished the game off with 16.4 seconds left from the line.

The Celtics, thanks to a 13-2 run that extended from the third quarter into the fourth, took a 106-94 lead with 9:02 left.

Daniel Theis’ fadeaway opened a little more space and the freshly checked in Irving then went about what he does best — closing out games.

He blocked a Jamal Murray jumper, and finished off the sequence with a layup off a Marcus Smart feed with 5:34 left for a 112-101 Celtics lead.